Houston: A Texas Mashup

Hello dear readers! Our apologies for getting behind on updating you on our road trip to Houston, but as they say "life got in the way". But we're back now, and ready to spill on our trip!

After our initial shock of how sprawling and city-centric Houston was, we settled in for our East Texas adventure. Saturday was spent at the rodeo with our hosts. Never been to a rodeo you say? Well, neither had we. We liken it to a state fair with cowboys and cowgirls. Plus a rodeo. 

The nosebleed section.

 

The boys fell for all the cowgirls in attendance. They've got a cute little "uniform" that caught the boys' eyes - cowboy boots and shorts or a dress. I get it. Unfortunately we don't have any pics of said hotties, because, well that would have been creepy. 

The rest of our time in Houston was spent eating Tex-Mex, visiting NASA and Galveston, and hanging with our pals. We had some delicious Tex-Mex at a place called El Real which was located in an old movie theater. 

Chunk and El Real.

We also got to visit Space Center Houston, where we even got to take a tour of the historic mission control and also got to see where they build and test a lot of the equipment. It was very cool, and highly recommended especially to space buffs. And on the way down we picked up some delicious donuts from Shipley Do-Nuts - in business for over 76 years!

Since we were close to the Gulf we decided to take a quick trip to Galveston on our last night there. Too bad it wasn't warmer. We imagine that it'd be pretty fun and happening in the summer months and during spring break. 

On our journey home we stopped in Memphis for the evening, staying at the Days Inn Graceland - an Elvis themed hotel just across the street from Graceland. It even has a guitar shaped pool, which is what everyone needs!

 A successful journey to Houston from Indianapolis indeed. Have you been to Houston? What did you think?

Happy adventuring! 

Red Hot and Blue Memphis Music Scene

Today we headed out for a day of Memphis music. Our first stop? The Gibson guitar factory. Since it was Saturday the workers weren't in, but it was still cool to see the process of putting the guitars together. Lots of work! One guitar takes 3 weeks! Unfortunately they don't allow photos, so the only one we have is this one of our tickets.

We then quickly stopped by the historic Peabody Hotel to see the famous ducks. The Peabody ducks march in every day at 11am to hang out in the fountain, and march out at 5pm led by a duckmaster. To get the full story check out this link. We didn't get to see them march, but we got to see them hanging out. Very cool!

After our duck encounter, we headed to the famous Sun Studio, where now-famous artists like Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Roy Orbison recorded in the 1950s. Sun Studio still gets action to this day from artists like U2, John Mellencamp, and Ringo Starr. Chunk even got a picture with the microphone that these great acts have used!

 

We then hopped the free trolley to Graceland . Important tip: Park at Sun Studio for free and their free trolley will drive you around to all the good spots. Just be sure to take the studio tour first! 


We were expecting something gaudy, but Graceland was a very understated home. For those who don't know, Graceland was Elvis's home in Memphis. We upgraded to the platinum package, and got to not only tour the house, but we got to see his cars, clothes, and the Lisa Marie plane. 

 

Below you can see some of the rooms of his house, including the living room, dining room, jungle room, pool room, and kitchen. The second floor is off limits to tourists out of respect to Elvis.

Out back is the meditation garden he used to use, but it now serves as a resting place for Elvis, his parents, and his grandmother.  

Did you know that Elvis bought Graceland at 22? And that he was a huge philanthropist? Learn something new every day!

So that was our second day here. Tomorrow we head home. Originally we had planned to go to St. Louis, but we'll have to save that for a trip out West!

From Mississippi to Tennessee

We left Natchez this morning and set off for Senatobia, MS. KJ's great aunt is buried there, along with a lot of other Latvians. It was quite nice to be able to visit. Bethesda Cemetery in Senatobia has a large number of Latvians interred, and actually makes note of it. 

The Latvian corner has a nice stone describing the lives of the Latvians that came to Mississippi. And the main description of the cemetery also makes note of the Latvians there. It's a very peaceful cemetery, and should be visited if you're ever in the area. 

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Only 45 minutes away, we were excited to get to Memphis. Tons of Memorial Day traffic led to a bit of frustration, but we made it in one piece! Our hotel is a bit far from major attractions (15/20min), but we'll survive. At least it's quiet! Haha.


We had dinner at Blues City Cafe on Beale Street. And while it's been nationally acclaimed on Travel Channel and magazines, we found the food to be just okay. We then headed down Beale Street that had been overrun by their annual Zombie Walk. All ages were participating, and it was quite a spectacle. 

We were expecting a old school Beale Street- record stores, blues clubs, restaurants. However, we found a forced cross between Bourbon Street and Wrigleyville in Chicago. We liked the bands playing and the people enjoying a beer having a listen. And we even enjoyed the parents that split a bucket of booze between 6 of them. 

Everything else was a bit obnoxious and fake. You can drink in the street (as in NOLA), but you can only go three blocks on Beale Street with it, and your ID gets checked and bag gets searched at the police gates.


If it sounds like we're complaining, well, maybe we are. But we expected a bit more from the "Home of the Blues". Perhaps tomorrow will show us another side of Memphis? We're hitting Sun Studio, the Gibson factory, and Graceland. Wish us luck!